In this piece, we will look at audio mixing consoles from the perspective of technological choices for worship facilities. Those choices are largely driven by the myriad of options available on the market. That's because the same audio mixing consoles available to secular venues are obviously also available to worship facilities.
Choosing between an analog and digital mixing console should involve several factors - budget, expandability, and the console operator.
The differences between what many worship facilities select compared to secular venues, often comes down to cost and what each venue can afford to purchase, lease, or rent.
Many Console Manufacturers to Choose From
I'd like to begin with a disclaimer by noting that I may mention certain manufacturers while omitting others. This is not intentional. I will attempt to cover the broad spectrum of audio mixing, and will likely miss more than a few. That being said, some of the major audio mixing console manufacturers today are Allen & Heath, Audient, AVID, Behringer, Cadac, Calrec, DiGiCo, Euphonix, Harrison, Lawo, Mackie, Midas, PreSonus, RCF, Roland, Shure, SSL, Soundcraft, Studer, Waves and Yamaha. The mention of any particular manufacturer does not indicate an endorsement of any audio product.
Audio mixing consoles combine various audio signals from vocal microphones, prerecorded audio and musical instruments. The audio signals are processed for output primarily for three basic application purposes: Live sound reinforcement, broadcast (for television and internet streaming), and recording. Let's focus primarily on live sound reinforcement mixing consoles, since that is the application most common to all worship facilities.
Most audio mixing consoles will have basic features per channel, such as an equalization and a routing section (for internal and external routing of the audio signal to various destinations), groups, VCAs (voltage controlled attenuators) and DCAs (digitally controlled attenuators), a channel input section, master output section, and audio level meters for inputs and outputs.
The audio mixing console is positioned in the middle of the audio signal chain, between the audio signal source (microphone, musical instrument or prerecorded audio signal) and the destination (loudspeakers, in a sound reinforcement system). Where the audio signal comes into the console, there should be a gain control knob. On an analog console, that would be a potentiometer or "pot." On a digital mixing console, it would be an encoder. Each controls how much of that audio signal comes into the console for processing.
I should mention "pots" and encoders are the basic means by which the audio signal is controlled and routed. The audio signal can then be routed on to an auxiliary section, where it can be routed to external outboard gear or internally for processing (sub grouping, auxiliary and VCA/DCA sends, cue systems, mix, etc.) or internally to dynamic processing sections of a digital mixing console.
Audio mixing consoles come in various sizes, categorized by the amount of inputs. The number of inputs usually corresponds to the size of the worship facility and stage requirements. The vocal mic and band requirements usually correspond to the amount of audio channels needed to accommodate those inputs.
When choosing an audio mixing console for your worship facility, it's always best to plan for future growth. If you need a 16-channel mixer today, perhaps at least a 24-channel mixer would be a better choice, budget permitting. Regarding all of these applications, there are digital, analog and powered (analog) mixing consoles that should be considered.
Analog or Digital?
Choosing between an analog and digital mixing console should involve several factors - budget, expandability, and the console operator.
Analog audio mixing consoles are considered by some to be old technology. Even so, some die hard proponents of analog mixing consoles cite ease of use and the preference of a "knob for every function" that most digital mixing consoles won't have. Although many analog consoles are still widely used, digital consoles have many features that their analog counterparts do not have. There aren't many digital audio mixing consoles that accommodate the knob for every function preference in a way that the Midas Pro series has accomplished, successfully combining the analog and digital platforms.
Digital audio mixing consoles are not viewed as user friendly by some - and very intuitive by others. These differing views are obviously in the eye of the beholder. If you're committed to your audio team, their view of digital consoles should be considered before investing in that technology. Their view will be a factor in their ability to learn the concept of a digital audio mixer.
Digital consoles have advantages over analog consoles, such as the ability to save and recall settings. In a worship facility, that feature alone could be very useful if the worship facility and sound system are used for more than one purpose, if at the end of an event, the engineer can restore worship service settings at the touch of a button.
Most digital mixers have a similar layout, with a master channel' offering dynamic processing such as gating, equalization, and compression. The concept is to select the channel that you want to implement those dynamic changes on, apply the dynamic processing, and move on to the next channel.
What this illustrates is an impressive advantage of using a digital mixing console. It provides on-board processing such as compression, gating, and reverb on every channel, where an analog console would not. That difference will result in the need for outboard gear required to apply the same dynamic processing when using an analog mixing console, which could result in a digital mixing console being a more cost-effective option than analog. Also, the ability to integrate third party plug-ins on the digital audio mixing platform is widely used today. These plug-ins feature a wider array of dynamic processing to extend beyond the processing capabilities installed by the manufacturer.
The latest in technological advancement in digital mixing consoles is touch screen technology. For recording studio applications - the Slate Raven platform, and for live sound applications - the Waves LV1, are quickly becoming industry leaders in this development. Waves, a leading creator of plug-in technology, created the LV1 touch screen audio mixing console. It seamlessly integrates their plug-ins with the console.
There are many options to choose from when considering an audio mixing console for your worship facility. Whether you choose analog or digital, you're likely to find one that will fit within your budget. Keep in mind personnel training and expandability are key factors when deciding on that important investment.